Quebec’s economic future won’t be found solely in Quebec. The province’s growth will be surpassed by worldwide growth and we have a limited market of 8 million people. We must now turn our eyes to the international stage.
To succeed in the economy of tomorrow, our Quebec entrepreneurs will need to travel more, deepen their knowledge of international markets, gain a better understanding of local cultures, develop products and services for customers elsewhere in the world and build relationships with foreign investors and suppliers.
Since starting our company Busbud, we have launched our long-haul bus ticket-purchasing platform in South America before we even had a network of North American partners. Having travelled across Brazil, we knew that it was a significant market. Start-ups like BonLook and Frank & Oak also take advantage of an international production chain and the vast American market.
To help our young entrepreneurs be successful on an international scale, above all we must create stronger ties between Montreal and other international ecosystems. I see three priorities: Transportation, “human” bridges and the support of our large institutions.
Transportation
In terms of transportation, we must pay special attention to our closest neighbours: New York, Boston and Toronto/Waterloo. Montreal has the good fortune to be located less than a one-hour flight away from this rapidly growing business triangle that is very open to the world. We must take advantage of it! With quick, affordable connections, it would be easy to visit these places often and to weave lasting connections to these ecosystems. Transportation is the key to talent mobility, ideas and capital.
For the time being, our transportation is highly unsuitable for this extraordinary opportunity. A 600 km train ride between Montreal and New York can take up to 12 hours, without an overnight option. Compared to other cities similarly close to each other, the Eurostar connects Paris to London in two hours and fifteen minutes while the Tokaido Shinkansen links Tokyo to Osaka in two and half hours.
Flights to New York and Boston are very expensive for their short duration. A one-hour return flight from Montreal costs from $300 to $700 and usually includes a stop in Toronto. Direct flights between Paris and London range from $100 to $250 for the same flight duration. That said, last year’s resumption of a regular flight route between Montreal and San Francisco is excellent news for Montreal entrepreneurs.
Relationships
Second, we must also develop human bridges with these cities, especially to Silicon Valley. Companies like Google, Facebook and Salesforce represent tremendous potential partners for our Quebec companies. These giants also have deep pockets to acquire, in some cases, our young companies, creating wealth for our entrepreneurs and their teams.
Fortunately, there are organizations like the C100, a community of executives of Canadian origin who maintain a bridge with Canada. By participating in their flagship event “48 Hours in the Valley”, I saw the benefit of being connected to this network of people from the “Valley”. The International Startup Festival has played a similar role for many years to weave international ties. In the same way, the RJCCQ’s new Diaspora initiative provides a platform that gathers Quebec entrepreneurs and professionals located all over the world, with one of the goals being to create human bridges.
Obviously, we must also better connect the Quebec ecosystem! When we launched the La Tournée des entrepreneurs project, which travelled to Baie-Saint-Paul, Gaspé, Rouyn-Noranda and Lac-Mégantic this summer, we met a good many entrepreneurs who are able to position themselves internationally. In Gaspé, for example, the community is mobilizing around a project to facilitate docking of large international vessels whose tourists are able to inject significant sums into the local economy each day.
Support of large institutions
Finally, our large institutions also have a role to play. For example, the Caisse de dépôt announced a $45 million project to reopen its foreign development offices. One of the goals is to help our entrepreneurs spread their wings on the international scene. “To become an organization of international caliber, does it mean abandoning Quebec? No, quite the opposite! The two go hand in hand, because in our opinion, the most important challenge is precisely to internationalize the Quebec economy”, emphasized its CEO, Michael Sabia. For the government, it also means to increase free trade agreements, trade missions and diplomatic efforts.
In all cases, all roads lead to being open to the world. It is often easy to look at opportunities in our own backyard, but we must also encourage our entrepreneurs to think globally first. Let’s forge connections to our neighboring ecosystems — and even those more distant. No one succeeds alone.
[Note: This article was originally published as a guest editorial in La Presse.]
Read the other articles in this 4-part series: